Vigil hosted at Metro Hall for abducted Nigerian school girls

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - One month after terrorists kidnapped more than 200 school girls in Nigeria, Louisvillians banded together to demand the students be freed.

As outrage continued to mount throughout the world Wednesday, state, city and civic leaders gathered at Metro Hall to honor the abducted school girls with a candlelight vigil.

"We are here today to say enough is enough and bring back our girls," said Keidra King, the Social Action Committee Chair for Louisville's alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

"We say, 'bring back our girls' because they are our girls," said District 9 Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh. "What happens to them, happens to us and we not only are obligated, we are compelled to stand up and stand with them."

"We're thinking globally but we're acting locally," said District 4 Metro Councilman David Tandy. "We're lending our voices to the millions of others around the world who are outraged by the terrorists acts that have taken place".

"To sit in silence is to agree with the terrorist act," said District 24 Metro Councilwoman Madonna Flood. "The world needs to eradicate terrorism and how you do it is standing up wherever you are."

"It was because of activism on social media that the story of these 200 girls made it to mainstream media," began King, "so we ask everyone to stand with us and stand in solidarity as we do our part to bring light to this issue."

"And the way that we do that is by continuing to contact our federal officials who have the ability to act on an international level," said Tandy before thanking Congressman John Yarmuth for being present at Wednesday afternoon rally.

"This is a crime against humanity," said Yarmuth. "In Washington you will find that there is virtual unanimity of our condemnation of this act and our commitment to deploy whatever resources make sense from our government to help find our girls and bring them home."

"We will continue to cry out regarding this outrage," said District 3 Metro Councilwoman Mary Woolridge.

"I want to thank everyone for standing up and speaking out in one voice: bring our girls back home," said District 5 Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton.

In an effort to further boost local support, the group encouraged everyone take to social media posting pictures of themselves holding signs saying "Bring Back Our Girls."